It is commonplace for various owners of vehicles such as pickup trucks to incorporate the use of a tonneau cover for providing items stored in the bed with protection from the elements. Tonneau covers are also used to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance to a pickup truck.
There are various types of tonneau covers that are used with a pickup truck. One type of cover is a single-piece cover made of fiberglass or another type of rigid material (often called a “hard” tonneau cover). These types of covers typically open through the use of hinges attached to the front of the bed behind the cab of the truck, and are supported by air struts when in an open position. One of drawback to this type of tonneau cover is that the cover typically has a limited range of motion when moving from an open position to a closed position, and vice versa, limiting the amount of items that can be stored in the bed of the truck. Also, hard tonneau covers typically have a latch which connects the cover to the tail gate for the purpose of providing additional attachment of the cover to the bed of the truck, which is necessary when the vehicle is moving because damage to the cover may occur if the cover is left open when the vehicle is moving. Because the cover typically must be secured to the tail gate during vehicle travel to prevent damage to the cover, the types of items that may be stored in the bed are limited in size to being less than the height of the bed.
Another type of tonneau cover used with pickup trucks is what is commonly referred to as a “soft” tonneau cover. A soft tonneau cover is typically made of a fabric, such as vinyl, which attaches to a frame having side rails, with the frame being attached to the side walls of the bed. The fabric is typically attached to the frame through the use of snap features, or the like. There are also a series of cross bows attached to the side rails of the frame which support the fabric in the middle area of the bed. This type of soft tonneau cover is quite cumbersome to use because it requires the detachment of the fabric and the bows from the side rails of the frame to place items in the bed of the pickup. Also, if the item being transported in the bed of the pickup is quite large, it may not be possible to reassemble the bows and the fabric to the frame, creating the problem of stowing the fabric and the bows when they are not in use.
Attempts have been made to create a tonneau cover which is readily changeable between a stowed and a deployed position. One particular solution has been to provide a foldable frame. However, this particular design requires the fabric remain connected to the side rails of the frame, and the fabric is subjected to having discrete fold points, causing excessive wear in the fabric around the areas of the hinges.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved tonneau cover which overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks.